Dangerous driving

student022

Yesterday I was driving along a bypass when a car overtook me on a continuous white line.

In hindsight this wasn’t a good idea, but I sounded my horn once as I was taught the horn can be sounded to alert other road users to your presence and danger.

Whether I was right or wrong to do that, the driver gets terribly aggravated altogether and slams on his breaks causing me to brake suddenly. The driver moves into the hard shoulder and tries to intimidate me to pull over,

I drive on. The driver tries to overtake me again on the hard shoulder getting very close to my bumper. At one point we are side by side on the hard shoulder.

What are your thoughts based on the footage.

StreetLight

It's brake, not break.

Have you posted footage somewehere, so we can see it?

Alun

I'm sure the other driver was well aware of your presence and the potential danger, so there was absolutely no need to sound the horn in those circumstances, regardless of how tempting it might have been.

Plus, people who engage in this kind of behaviour usually don't react kindly to any kind of reaction, be it sounding the horn, flashing your lights or hand gestures.

pjdarcy

Not really much point in beeping your horn at a muppet like that OP. They're unlikely to reconsider their life choices due to someone beeping at them. Just let them go and move on with your life.

If it's an incredibly dangerous maneuver you could always post the dashcam footage on twitter and tag @GardaTraffic

Tombo2001

I cant see any footage, but based on what you've said the other driver was completely in the wrong on both fronts.

Firstly - on the overtake. There is no debating that one.

And second - on the aggressive reaction.

I dont see any issue with you beeping the horn.

My own view on this - is that driving seems to have become, and I'm using the phrase paradoxically.....a 'safe space' for those who want to vent their anger and engage in law breaking. That is to say, there is seldom any consequence for people who routinely break the law on the roads - and then when dude does see a consequence, i.e. you beeping the horn - he raise the ante by acting aggressively.

Doesnt matter that he was in the wrong. He wants to win the argument. And again, there is no consequence for him here when he does react aggressively.

If he behaved like that in a pub he'd be thrown out. But somehow on the roads its ok.

student022

https://

youtube.com

/@Irishdriver01?

si=9m1zt9q1fymAUzyJ

just look up Irishdriver01 on YouTube

so I can’t post links because of my account, but I’ve uploaded the footage to YouTube.

student022

Doesnt justify this sort of reaction from him, and he shouldn’t be on the road evidently.

RobertFoster

Video embeds, front view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tGH1Jde53M

Rear view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GVrlOCkhg

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058331563/dangerous-driving

Overtaking on continuous white lines is very common here. I do not exceed the speed limit and the roads locally generally allow maximum legal speed, so I don't hang around dawdling at under the limit either.

People overtake on unbroken whites all the time. Whether due to lack of knowledge or not caring I don't know, but it happens as a matter of course.

I never use the horn under these circumstances, the maneuver has been completed so the horn will not warn and it shouldn't be needed to let the other driver know you are there if he has passed you.

The safe "workaround" is maybe a tad unusual for a few I meet on the road, but pay frequent attention as to what is coming in the rear view mirror and leave plenty of space between yourself and the car in front so that the reason for the unbroken line does not hit the offender when he has no space to drop into.

o1s1n

Check out 30 seconds in that second video, he tries to overtake the OP and then narrowly misses an oncoming car in the opposite direction.

Absolute lunatic. 171D10097. Should be reported to the Gardai before he kills someone.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623010#Comment_121623010

Fairly crazy driving by the other guy, particularly the attempted overtake/undertake - very dangerous.

It would be good to see the original overtake for completeness, but there's no excuse for that kind of aggressive driving.

You should report it to Gardai via TrafficWatch and give them the video footage.

Vic_08

In the (very remote) scenario where the Gardai do anything about it they will want to see the video of the whole incident from before the car approached you to make sure it wasn't a 2-way road rage.

Burt Renaults

I drive for a living and between working and commuting, I probably spend over sixty hours a week on the road. Pretty much every time I see someone doing something stupid or dangerous, they're doing it in a Nissan Qashqai.

AndrewJRenko

I did a 25-30 minute trip on the M50 at the weekend, southside to north.

You'd usually see one feckin stupid driver making a feckin stupid manoeuvre like this on that trip.

This weekend, I swear I saw five or six feckin stupid drivers making feckin stupid manoeuvres like this, drivers cutting in to non-existent gaps, drivers pulling from the outside lane across three lanes to get to the slip lane, drivers doing Frogger-like in-and-out overtakes repeatedly. Truly crazy stuff.

MacDanger

You should report that to the Gardai, absolutely mental stuff no matter what happened beforehand.

Irish_wolf

OP I've experienced this exact situation before, I don't want to defend this person's actions at all but I do believe your use of the horn here is unwarranted as the person overtaking you is clearly aware of you (hence the overtake) and would be right in assuming that you are then only beeping out of anger/frustration at the illegal manoeuvre, the other driver took major offence which lead to the deranged actions that followed.

What followed is not your fault of course, there is no excuse for the drivers erratic behaviour and this person is clearly mad but you have to accept that you could have just let them go and avoided this situation entirely. Laying on the horn in Ireland should generally only be used to alert someone to a hazard or potential hazard (a light 'bip' might be used in a town to say hello but that's not what we're talking about here). In this context it's the equivalent of a middle-finger. I'd recommend you report this to the Gardaí and then try to put this behind you and take this as a lesson that antagonising someone on the road, even if they're completely in the wrong, is not worth it. You don't know what the mental state of the other driver is and you both have the very real capacity to kill or seriously maim each other and/or drivers when driving a car.

It's not worth your life or car to police the roads yourself, there's plenty of more headcases out there like the guy in the video that will take it very personally. If someone blasts passed you dangerously, or is drinking drunk, or just being an asshole, the best solution for your own safety is to slow down, let them pass, record their actions and their registration, and report it.

hullaballoo

Ime TrafficWatch and AGS will take it seriously with reasonably conclusive dashcam footage showing erratic driving. Of course that would constitute dangerous driving for most of us but probably only a careless driving charge ultimately. They'll require you to promise to go to court to give evidence if it comes to it.

XT1200

Why come on here looking for advise. If you are that concerned take the video to your local Garda station or report the incident to Roads Policing Unit of An Garda Síochána. Problem solved

ohnonotgmail

Do you have video of the original overtake where he crossed a solid white line?

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623639#Comment_121623639

Not at all. The driving shown is sufficient for dangerous/careless driving, irrespective of what preceded it.

Damien360

That lunatic needs to be removed from the road. Brake check, common enough crap. The very poor attempt of overtake, common enough. The undertake on the hard shoulder in inexcusable. Given the low sun, the visibility was poor, could have been anyone walking or a car stopped. I don't think the gardai will do anything if you report but that person will be a statistic very soon based on that.

delboythedub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058331563/dangerous-driving

Get A Dashcam and next time bring video to Garda Station

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121627811#Comment_121627811

they have a dashcam. they posted the footage.

Tenzor07

This sort of driving is pretty common on our roads and I am sure occurs dozens of times a day in every part of the country, there's just so many people behind the wheel of a car who really shouldn't be allowed to drive a motor vehicle and in many cases are driving on suspended or non-existent licences, in cars with no NCT and the driver uninsured... and like in the OP's video they will have no second thoughts about pulling you out of your car and assaulting you or causing damage to your vehicle..

So the best advise is to avoid a confrontation with dangerous drivers like this, don't beep/flash or wave your fists at them unless you're willing to risk the potential consequences..

It's highly unlikely the Gards will do anything about this particular incident as it's far too mild for them to do anything further about it as you weren't phyiscally assaulted or your car damaged.

POBox19

A nasty incident to be involved in and thankfully it did not become worse. Good job with the dashcam. If you want the Gardai to do anything you must bring this to their attention otherwise nothing will be done and 171 D Qushqai can carry on driving like lunatic.

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121628651#Comment_121628651

Agressive driving is common enough alright and the slamming on the brakes sometimes, but partially undertaking in the hard shoulder to intimidate someone? I've driven a lot of miles and have never even come close to anything like in that video

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121628651#Comment_121628651

There was nothing mild about their driving.

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121628928#Comment_121628928

Like I said, it's mild! Drive on the roads long enough and you will see worse...

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121628985#Comment_121628985

Didn't say the driving was mild, I said in the scale of things that will get the Garda attention then this incident is...

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623645#Comment_121623645

I've been cycling into the city since 1997 and pretty much every time I see someone doing something stupid or dangerous, they are professional drivers. Taxis and delivery guys are the worst at taking sudden turns, making sudden stops and banging on the 'park anywhere' hazard lights.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121629008#Comment_121629008

It is careless driving, if not dangerous driving. the gardai prosecute people for this all the time. with the footage this would be a very easy case to prosecute.

delboythedub

My reply was posted before the video was posted and i hope you didnot take a day off work in order to reply to my post

delboythedub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121627872#Comment_121627872

My reply was posted before the video was posted and i hope you didnot take a day off work in order to reply to my post

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121633235#Comment_121633235

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623010#Comment_121623010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121627811#Comment_121627811

posted a full day before your post.

Baseball72

Some years ago whilst commuting from Wexford to South Dublin, a motorist overtook me, and several cars, crossing a continuous white line (before the M11 was opened). I made a mental note of the reg plate and caught a glimpse of the driver from my rearview mirror as he overtook.

He then overtook more cars in front of us, just about avoiding some oncoming cars from the Dublin direction. About an hour later I came across the vehicle in South Dublin, stopped at a junction. I wrote down the number, and make of the car and could see the driver quite clearly.

When I got to the office later that morning, I wrote (e-mailed I think) the Guards with details. A few days later, I was contacted by the Guards and was asked to make a statement - which I did at my local station. A few months later, the station nearest the incident phoned and asked would I go to court if need be - I said yes. Maybe a week or two later, a sergeant phoned to say the motorist had pleaded guilty and was fined. No need to attend court. Hopefully, I did the guy a favour that morning - and also fellow motorists.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623197#Comment_121623197

You can also see pedestrians on the path with no barrier between the road and them while he's shooting up the hard shoulder inside the OP.

Absolutely criminal driving.

Ezeoul

Jesus.

OP, please report this. Thankfully, an accident didn't happen this time and no one was hurt, but who knows next time this lunatic could end up killing some innocent person who is just going about their day.

Please don't let this go when you have the evidence right here to do something about it.

You know it's the right thing to do. 👍

student022

Thanks for the replies.

I decided to go into my local station to give a statement.

The guard said they could either call around to the driver and issue them a warning or take a statement from both of us and it would be referred to a superintendent and may be heard in court.

I sent on the footage so hopefully something will come of it.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121634746#Comment_121634746

"the station nearest the incident phoned and asked would I go to court if need be"

i was once told by a garda that this is often key - if the offender is put on notice that someone else is willing to stand up in court and testify, the judge won't dismiss that easily and the easiest course then becomes to take the offence on offer.

JVince

In the UK you simply upload the coverage to the Nextbase police portal and action is taken with no requirement to go to court is the coverage is good enough.

Over 100,000 uploaded last year and 70% had action taken.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/30/rise-in-dashcam-submissions-leads-to-more-dangerous-drivers-being-caught

A similar scheme is needed here.

magicbastarder

in the post i was quoting, there was no camera footage (though i appreciate you may not have been addressing my post)

they decided to introduce a portal here for drivers to upload footage - and then announced that the driver would still have to attend a garda station to make a statement.

Beta Ray Bill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121654676#Comment_121654676

issue them a warning

That's not good enough. Legal system here favours assholes like the guy in the footage.

That being said you didn't post the lead up to the event on youtube, he could argue you were doing the same thing only 30 secs before

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121658147#Comment_121658147

As already said, even if the OP was doing the same or worse, it does not diminish the dangerous/careless driving in the footage.

Kaisr Sose

That's crazy stuff. There is no justification for the behaviour of the driver on camera..The Garda saying they may just warn the driver is also crazy. With video evidence showing multiple examples of poor driving, that should be a day in court. Some Garda just don't want to do the policing part of their job.

mykrodot

At a time when our road deaths are at a 10 year high I find anyone saying there's nothing to see here and it happens every day is in denial! This is exactly the kind of behaviour that's causing accidents and deaths.

That maneuver looks incredibly dangerous and puts so many other lives at risk. It is a very busy road. I'd have no hesitation in sending that clip on to the Garda Traffic Corps .

Beta Ray Bill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121658239#Comment_121658239

I agree with you, but the p!sstake legal system we have in this country doesn't

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121658332#Comment_121658332

There's no channel to report issues like this to the Roads Policing Unit (as the Traffic Corps are now known).

If you want to report it, you can use the Garda Trafficwatch phone line, or report it to the station where the incident occurred. It gets allocated at the local station, sometimes to a Roads Policing garda or sometimes to a front line garda.

Marcusm

The guy driving the Qashqai looks like he is wearing a garda jacket.

andrewk08

You got the right Garda. Last Thursday on M2 at ashbourne, a car overtook me at 150kph (approx) during snow/slush conditions, then tailgated a van who was caught behind HGV, followed by another dangerous overtaking.

He was again stuck behind HGV on ashbourne turn off so I beeped him as i passed. He came back on motorway to pursue me and attempted to run me off the road which I only avoided by going into the hard shoulder.

The Guards (there were 5 in front office) gave me cock and bull story, "Oh there's a car up there now", without asking where he went. I gave the cars reg but they didn't take my contact details, at which point I realised that they were just trying to get rid of me.

I see life threatening dangerous driving at least once a week and the reality is that there is almost no enforcement and lots of avoidable deaths.